What might cervical vestibular–evoked myogenic potential abnormalities mean in essential tremor?

Aim/background Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders. However, its pathogenesis is unclear. Human vestibular reflexes are essential not only for gait and posture but also for goal-directed voluntary movements. In this study, cervical vestibular–evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs), the electrophysiological equivalent of the vestibulo-collic reflex was studied in ET patients to understand the interaction between the tremor network and the vestibular neural pathways. Methods cVEMPs were recorded in 40 ET patients and 40 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). The latencies of peaks p13 and n23 and peak-to-peak amplitude of p13-n23 were measured. Results There was no statistically significant difference between the p13 latencies of the HC and ET groups ( p 0.79 and p 0.23 for the right and left sides respectively). n23 latency was shortened bilaterally in the ET group ( p 0.009 and p 0.02 for the right and left sides respectively). p13-n23 amplitudes of the ET patients were bilaterally reduced when compared with the HC ( p